1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and/or playback apparatus and, particularly, to a recording and/or playback apparatus having a function of detecting whether a tape cassette is present.
2. Description of the Related Art
A tape recording and/or playback apparatus is known in which a tape cassette is mounted in a tape cassette mounting section as a recording and/or playback section and a signal is recorded onto or reproduced from a magnetic tape of the mounted tape cassette by using a magnetic head.
In this type of recording and/or playback apparatus, a cassette lid is rotatably supported by the apparatus main body so as to open or close the tape cassette mounting side of the mounting section.
However, in the above recording and/or playback apparatus, when it is attempted to check whether a tape cassette is mounted in the mounting section while the cassette lid is closed, the inside of the mounting section is difficult to see if it is looked at obliquely through a transparent window of the cassette lid; whether a tape cassette is mounted in the mounting section cannot be checked unless the inside of the mounting section is looked at through the window of the cassette lid perpendicularly.
There are recording and/or playback apparatuses in which no transparent window is provided in the cassette lid. In this case, to check whether a tape cassette is mounted in the mounting section, a cumbersome operation of opening the cassette lid is needed each time, which is inconvenient.
When a person having weak eyes checks whether a tape cassette is mounted in the mounting section to use a recording and/or playback apparatus, he is required to open the cassette lid and grope for a cassette tape that may exist in the mounting section. In groping about in the mounting section, he may damage some of various members that are provided in the mounting section and constitute the recording and/or playback section or he may even injure his hand when touching some of those members.